England

Another night of bad brittish tv!!! At the end of the long day it is nice to kick back and watch a little tv before going to bed?. But flipping through the channels here has become a painful process. Definitely hit or miss? mostly just misses. The rare hit was this girl from Trinidad that sang on X Factor (one of Simon Cowell?s Idol type shows) ? she brought both Libbi & I to tears? no joke! Anyhoo? a good reason to update the blog.
The lesson with Katie went very well. In typical Katie fashion it was great flatwork, and the jumping was completely to the point and what we needed to do. It was great having Laura there with her, so we have a good plan for Sunday. Laura made a great observation later: As a coach Katie only says what is completely relevant and important. I know this sounds like a no brainer, but a lot of times as a rider you end up dealing with a lot of extra b.s. that is not conducive to producing your best performance. With Katie, you only focus and practice on what it takes to produce your best performance. I really hope that the US Eventers will use her for showjumping in the future.
After my lesson I got to take a nap (not something I ever seen to have time for? was soooo wonderful) then I picked up Diane the Fairy Godmother.
On Monday Arthur got to go out for a long time in the morning while everyone else had jump lessons with Laura. I watched both Missy?s and Karen?s lessons. Both of their horses looked great. I then flatted Arthur in the hackamore, we both needed an easier day especially me as I have somehow completely screwed up my neck!!! Arthur had another visit from the Physio in the afternoon? he loves the Physio so much, I restrained myself from taking a ton of repeat pictures of Arthur enjoying his session. Lucky me, I got the Physio to work on my neck a bit. It helped a lot, but I am still cranking! In the afternoon Vernon and Margaret Cochrane came to the hotel to deliver a box of books that Vernon wrote about Liz?s life. Liz (their daughter) was one of the neatest people I have met in the eventing world. She lost her battle with cancer a few years ago and Vernon wrote this book celebrating her life (there are many amazing pictures). All the proceeds from the books? sales will go to cancer research. It was really nice visiting with them. I encourage everyone to go to Journeyman Saddlery in Middleburg, VA and buy a copy!